Film Review: Naked of Defenses

October 04, 2008 A poised yet internally turbulent film of almost religious purity and compassion, "Naked of Defenses" devotes its entire time to one central figure, a female Lazarus who rises from spiritual death by connecting with the woman she hates and envies. Quality festivals should be discerning enough to select this, but overseas theatrical release is a long shot. Set in a frugal and sparse community in Japan's Hokuriku region, where a high-tech factory dominates the rural landscape, the film opens in a green field with billowing reeds that is beautiful yet desolate, defining the atmosphere of the protagonists' world.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.